Facebook beats the street, loses long time CFO Ebersman

The company posts better than expected $2.5 billion in revenue on 34 cents EPS, but stock only up 2%

Shares of Facebook are up a modest 2.5% in after-hours trading Wednesday, after the company posted first quarter results that came out ahead of Wall Street expectations.

Facebook shares had dropped 2.65% or $1.67, to $61.63 a share in regular trading.

In the earnings report, Facebook posted revenue of $2.5 billion for the quarter, beating Wall Street's estimates of $2.36 billion, going up 82% from $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2013. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 34 cents in the quarter, higher than the 24 cents a share that analysts had been expecting.

"Facebook's business is strong and growing, and this quarter was a great start to 2014," Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "We've made some long term bets on the future while staying focused on executing and improving our core products and business. We're in great position to continue making progress towards our mission."

Advertising revenue was $$2.27 billion for the quarter. It increased 82% from the same quarter the year before. Mobile accounted for 59% of that revenue, up from approximately % of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2013.

Payments and other fees revenue was $237 million for the first quarter of 2014.

GAAP net income was $642 million, compared to a net income of $219 million for the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 193%. Non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $885 million, up from 184% from $312 million a year ago.

Facebook's monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.28 billion as of March 31, 2014, an increase of 15% year-over-year, while mobile MAUs were 1.01 billion, an increase of 34% year-over-year.

Daily active users (DAUs) were 802 million on average, an increase of 21% year-over-year, while mobile DAUs were 609 million on average, an increase of 43%.

So why isn't the seeing a more robust stock price? Perhaps it has to do with the announcement that CFO David Ebersman will be stepping down on June 1, 2014. He will be succeeded by David Wehner, currently Facebook's Vice President, Corporate Finance and Business Planning.

Ebersman, who has been at Facebook for the past five years, will remain with the company through September to ensure a seamless transition of his responsibilities.

"This has been a tough decision because Facebook is such a great company and has such a bright future ahead, but I've decided to move back into healthcare where I spent my career before Facebook," Ebersman said in statement. "It's been a privilege working at Facebook and being part of such a great team. We have an incredibly talented finance organization, and I have complete confidence in Dave Wehner and his ability to lead the team going forward."